Arapahoe County
by TheGodmother2
Summary: Walt, Cady and Vic ...the aftermath of Henry's arrest.
1. Chapter 1

_Takes place after Bad Medicine_

The speckles of snow begin their whispering descent over the mile high city. We make the familiar walk from inmate reception to the visitor's holding cell. We visit Henry Standing Bear every day without fail. Cady sits on the cold scratched metallic round stool with an uneasy sense of familiarity and places the cold outdated black telephone receiver to her ear. Henry looks thinner but remarkably good for a man facing murder charges. He raises his locked wrists and picks up his receiver staring through the clouded Plexiglas that separates them.

"Hello Cady. How is my Goddaughter today? "

Cady beams, "Henry, I have some really good news. I was able to get a bail hearing date set for next week and I found a local firm to represent you pro bono. They are going to let me piggyback on their Colorado license. In essence, I will be representing you and doing all the leg work. When we see the judge next week I am hoping to convince him to not only grant me bail but let you come home with us while awaiting trial. That is, if I can't get the charges dismissed outright."

Henry smiles and says, "Cady, I have the utmost faith in you and trust you are doing your best for my benefit. I do not want you to worry about me. I am prepared."

I looked at my best friend, my brother, and marveled at his strength. I was the reason he was in this situation. It should be me on the other side of the glass. Henry looks up as if he senses my desperation, "Cady, may I speak with your father, please?"

Cady motions with the antiqued black plastic and says, "Dad". I pick up the phone and slide onto the stool that Cady has vacated. "Walter, I did nothing more than you would do for me. I did nothing wrong. Promise me you will not lose yourself in this battle. It is an enemy we must fight together. "

"Yup" That is all I could muster.

We said our good-byes with the promise of visiting the next day. I know the odds were damned near insurmountable; getting Henry out of jail on bail and permission to go back to Durant but if anyone could do it my beautiful and brilliant daughter would be the one to make it happen. My love for Cady has always been complete but our bond has grown so much more during these weeks in Denver. Spending so much time together, in the city that has treated the Longmire family with such violent disregard, has allowed both of us the opportunity to tear down any remaining walls.

Cady convinced me to show her the path that her Mom had taken the night she was murdered. It was hard but I knew that I could only be honest with my child. After all, she was half of me, and she thought and felt a lot like me.

Henry warned me that secrets would tear us apart and they nearly had. Cady's secret about Branch and my secret about Martha and this forsaken city. After Fales nearly tore my cabin apart, I knew I would never lie to my girl again. I would always protect her but she demanded transparency and I had to give it to her.

We have cried a lot but it is good for our souls. I find myself being able to remember Martha, laugh about her, and smile about her without being ripped apart. Henry would have a mystic explanation for this experience and I chuckled at the thought of my best friend. I think about Vic, too. She frequently creeps into my thoughts suddenly and without warning.

Cady rushes in and says she is headed back to the Strum law library at the University to finish some research. I grab my coat and start to put on my hat when Cady proclaims, "I just love you to pieces Daddy but I can use some me time and just cram at the library. I will be back before dark, Dad. I don't want you to worry. "I looked at Cady, partly proud of her strength and courage. The other part of me dreaded letting her go alone in this hateful city.

"You promise to call me if you are going to be past dark? I will come and get you and we can have dinner."

"I promise, Daddy. Hey, while I am gone why don't you call home? You know Ruby waits for your updates"

"Ok, punk. Be careful kiddo. Have the doorman hail you a cab and call me when you get there."

Cady walks out the door and looks back, "Okay, Dad."

I wave a little goodbye and open the mini-fridge. I crack open a Rainer from the 6 pack I bought a few days ago. I plop in the overstuffed arm chair and flip on the television. Trying to figure out the foreign channel numbers I flip until I recognize something. There is a knock at the door and I hop up to answer it.

I opened the door without looking. "You changed your mind, punk?" Vic is standing there wearing a red wife beater and a leather jacket with a muted brown Absaroka County Sheriff's duffle bag slung over her left shoulder.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey whose ass do I have to kiss to get a cold beer in this God forsaken hell hole of a city?"

I grab her by the lapels of her jacket, the soft leather folding into my grip, excited by the surprise and the longing I have felt for her. I pulled her inside the doorway snaking my arms around the small of her back while pulling her into me. My lips found hers with a sense of urgency, as we kissed deeply, devouring any fear that led to this moment. Vic pushed me against the wall. I kicked the door shut. We stood there in silence both of us out of breath and waiting like prey and predator for the next sign of engagement. My head is reeling and I feel weightless. As if she could sense doubt creeping into my conscious thought, Vic gently presses against me allowing me to feel every inch of her. She drapes her arms around my neck and slowly strokes my unshaven face with the back of her hand as if she wants to memorize every line and contour. As she stands on her tip-toes I can feel the warmth of her breath on my neck and she coyly whispers in my ear, "So, I guess it's your ass I gotta kiss to get that cold beer?"I found my way back to her inviting lips. She tasted a little salty and a little sweet. She tasted good.

I begin to sink and float into her wanting body. I can feel my heart racing as our kisses become deeper eliminating any doubt of how much I want her. I pull back and hold her at arm's length.

"Vic, we have to stop." I clear my throat and say it again this time trying to convince myself.

"What's wrong?" Vic questions me with concern. Her steely eyes never leaving mine.

"Nothing is wrong….I mean…Vic this is wrong…..listen I'm sorry for this…."

Vic grabbed the duffle bag she dropped on the floor during our flurry of kisses and threw it on the couch. "I really could use a beer."

"Yeah, me too. "

I grabbed a fresh Rainer for Vic and polished off the one I had started before the unexpected knock on the door. Vic slams the beer down, holds the empty bottle in the air, "Another."

I laugh as I pull out another bottle, open it, and give it to her. I feel the nervousness set in as I think of all the things I want to share with her; my terror of growing too old to fast and not being able to please her, hindering her career by being in the way, making her the butt of jokes in Durant. The fear of coming between her and her marriage with Sean that is the biggest fear I have and I simply cannot allow myself to do that.

Vic finishes her second beer and holds up the empty, "Another."

I grab another beer and as I hand it to her, "Hey, Vic….you maybe want to slow down a little…eh." She stares at me as she turns the bottle up taking a long drawn out swig. She swallows the beer as if was quenching a dry thirst. "Nope, I don't want to slow down Walt. Actually, I think you need to put your big girl panties on and catch up."

I chuckle at the visual, "Walter Longmire, grab a beer and sit your narrow butt down because we have a lot of shit to talk about and I'm going to do it because I am damn near drunk and if I don't say it now I never will." I swallow hard. Afraid of what Vic is going to say. I want to throw up at the thought of her agreeing with my fears, of not wanting me but I grab the last beer open it and take a sip.

As I sit back down in the over stuffed arm chair my eyes come up to meet Vic's and she says…


	3. Chapter 3

"You know I never wanted to live in Wyoming. It's just shit; bear shit, elk shit, deer shit, just shit, Walt. It's cold as hell. I mean Philly gets cold but not Antarctica cold. We have one place to eat decent food and the pizza joint sucks eggs. Did I mention that my marriage is shit, too? Sean and I were rocky before the move and since coming to Durant it's even worse. His long hours and being away days at a time, the whole Gorski drama, I mean everything has taken its toll. The tears began welling up in Vic's eyes and I wanted to sit next to her and hug her and tell her it would be alright but I didn't dare move.

Vic looked down at the bottle of Rainer in her hands and slowly started to peel back the label. I smiled recognizing I have the same habit. Still looking at her beer she says, "Fuck, I hate to cry but I'm so frustrated. You confuse me." I looked at her quizzically.

Vic leans forward on the couch with her hands grasping the beer between her knees. She wipes the tears from her eyes with her forefinger. "The truth is the only reason I am here is because I got the short straw when we pulled at the station." She laughed out loud. "I didn't have the balls to say I couldn't go because I was afraid to see you. I am really afraid of my feelings for you because they don't make sense. I don't know why I am attracted to a skinny middle aged cowboy with no ass. I mean really, Walt. Do you even own a razor? You have this perpetual beard thing going. Totally not my style." She smiled at me and I could not help but smile back thinking she is right on all accounts.

"Unlike Lucian I never had a magnificent rear end." We both laugh out loud at the thought.

I get up and walk over to the mini-fridge and open it only to realize that I took the last beer. "Ah, no more beer do you want a real drink?" As I ramble off the curious assortment of premium libations Vic moves and stands next to me. She tucks her head between the fold in my shoulder and my back and slides her hand into my back pocket wrapping her free arm around my waist. Her breasts rise and fall with every breath against the tenderness of my rib cage. I could stand like this forever and I am afraid to break the silence. She feels good. I have imagined a million times in my head what her touch and her kisses would feel like. There is a vulnerability to Vic that I think she only lets me see.

"I know I'm being a cry baby and I'm not going to cry anymore."

She steps away and I want to grab her and pull her back close to me. Her hair looks longer than when I last saw her 6 weeks ago in Durant. "Listen, it's no secret I wasn't in love with Durant and the whole cowboy bullshit but honestly Walt the place has grown on me. I really didn't know what I would find there and it turns out that I found my best friend and quite possibly the love of my life."

Her words lingered in the air...


	4. Chapter 4

I stood there trying to grasp what she just said and just what the hell I could do about it. I was paralyzed knowing that I could never purposefully come between her and Sean. I was surprised when Vic told me she had been with Gorski knowing he was married but I rationalized it as a mistake of youth. She was smart enough to realize it was wrong and had gotten herself clear of it. That was the important thing.

I moved over to Vic and crouched down on one knee in front of her sliding my hand up to her chin to lift her head. "Hey, you." I moved a lock of her hair back behind her ear as it fell forward. I couldn't think of anything else to say so I gently rose up and kissed her lightly on the lips. She broke away from me and I looked up at her a bit dazed at her repulsion.

"Walt, there's something else I need to tell you."

I stood up and moved back to the overstuffed arm chair. I pushed my hair down in the middle like I just took off my hat and sat back sort of holding my breath. "A couple of days after they arrested Henry and you and Cady had already left for here, Sean came back home from Jackson. Bbefore we moved from Philly we were going to counseling and we thought Durant would give us a fresh start on our marriage. You know – no distractions – other than the shit. It didn't really work out that way and he asked me for a divorce. I didn't say no this time so he flew up to Reno and filed the paperwork 5 weeks ago. You know the thing about Nevada, easy come easy fuckin' go, and since there was no contest and no kids it only took 2 weeks."

I sat there piecing it all together. "Vic, maybe uh this is a bit of vanity on my part or stupidity but you said there were no distractions in your marriage. I know I wasn't Sean's favorite person." I smiled a little, "I need to know if I was the cause of any friction between you two?"

"The only friction you caused was the job. It wasn't you. Sean didn't like me being a cop in Philly and this small town on-call bullshit just made it worse. I don't know maybe he saw something in us that I never noticed or admitted to myself but I doubt it. Honestly, Walt it was the hot make-up sex that kept us going the past couple of years anyway."

"Maybe that's more than I need to know."

"Listen, mister, if you want me then you to have to put up with all of it, you know. No fuckin' secrets."

I just looked at Vic. I was astounded at what she just told me. I was taking in all in and thinking if a future was really possible? The elongated pause was too long for Vic. She stood up from the arm of her chair and looked at me her face filled with embarrassment. "I just thought….you don't want me then? Her voice pitched a little higher as it trailed off at the end. She always did that, like she was asking a question even when she was making wildly declarative statements.

I stood up and eliminated any distance between us, "Don't want you." It wasn't a question. I held her face in my hands and looked directly into her eyes, "Yeah, you'll do." She punched me in the gut and I laughed. Vic pounced on top of me as we fell on the floor. I eagerly kissed her lips as she pinned me down.

"Best friends, huh? I don't want to ruin our friendship by doing something stupid, Vic." The seriousness of it all was starting to invade my conscious thought. She started unbuttoning my shirt filling my faces with hungry kisses. She sounded like a conquering lioness. I held her wrists in place. "I don't want to do it this way."

"Really Walt, are you serious right now?"

I sat up still holding on to her wrists. "Yup." I let her wrists go and held her hands in mine. I always noticed that Vic didn't wear nail polish but I never noticed her perfect manicure. There is so much for me to learn about this magnificent creature eager with the desire of her first surrender to me. "Vic, I don't want to have sex with you on the floor of some hotel room in Denver." I brushed my thumb across her lips and moved closer to her on the floor. We were facing each other and our legs were intertwined. "You know for an old cowboy I don't have a lot of worldly experience with this…ahhh…whatever this is...but I do know without any equivocation how I feel about you and ….ahhh….those feelings do come with a lot of fear, Vic. Things will be different when we get home and I don't want a romp in the hay to color anything back in Durant. I'm not built for it, Vic. I'm not one of those guys."

She looked at me smiling but her eyes were marked with disappointment.

"Victoria, I want to make love to you in the right place and the right time for us and this is not it."

Vic was silent as I stood up. I extended my hand which she took and stood up next to me. "Okay, Walt." She looked down and I thought she was going to cry again but she didn't. She looked at me and smiled. Her eyes glistened just a little bit.

I rubbed my chin with my right thumb and index finger "Besides, I need to buy myself a razor." She laughed out loud and that pleased me.

Our spell was broken by a knock at the door.


	5. Chapter 5

I hesitate moving to open the door as I stare at my deputy fighting my desire to seize her. The knock continued, "Daddy, are you in there?" I quickly opened the door and Cady proclaimed, "Hey, I forgot my cell in your room." She looked past me at Vic.

"Vic!" The two women rushed into a warm hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Just checking up on the old man, you know he's not too good with the phone and keeping us updated."

"You made the trip all the way up here just to check on him?

"I got the short straw." They both laughed out loud at that and I knew I was outnumbered so I just stayed silent.

"Are you staying here at the hotel?"

"I didn't know how long my visit would be….not knowing what I would find."

I grumbled a little at the thought of having a rescue party sent after me.

Cady exclaimed, "I know, why don't you stay with me? I have a double and besides I'm hardly ever in my room. We have a bail hearing set for Monday so I really will be at the library most of the time."

"If you don't mind that would be great. I won't be here long anyway."

Cady glances over at me and pauses.

"You ok with that Dad?"

"Yeah, sure whatever you two decide is fine."

Cady knew me all too well. She could sense my uneasiness at the fear of being caught by my own daughter. My uneasiness grew as I looked at the two of them side by side chatting and laughing. Vic is young enough to be my daughter. Mr. Negative was back and he was telling me all the reasons why this is so wrong. She's too young, she's too pretty and this interest is fleeting, it's not love it's infatuation, she is from another world, she will leave you. Protect yourself ol' boy. Don't get too far in.

"Dad…hey Dad" my thoughts were broken by Cady.

"Yeah, punk."

"You were in la la land." She laughs and says, "I'm gonna grab my phone and go back to the library. I got all the way there and realized I didn't have it. Good luck finding a pay phone anywhere! I didn't want you starting an international manhunt because I hadn't called."

I smiled; thankful she had good sense, "Good thinking. Thank you."

Cady walked over to me with a look of concern. She quietly said, "Are you ok, Dad?"

"Yup. Just fine." I smiled.

She looked over her shoulder at Vic and then back at me. I could see the wheels turning in her head as she was putting the pieces together. Cady was great at reading people it's part of what makes her a fantastic lawyer but she was an expert at reading me. "Did I interrupt something?"

"No"

She studied my eyes and a soft smile appeared on her face. She retrieved her cell phone and again promised to call when she reached the library.

"Cady, call me when you are just about done. I…maybe…ah…maybe Vic and me can pick you up and we get a bite to eat? " I looked over at Vic, "I'm sorry Vic is that ok with you?"

"Hell, yeah"

Cady looked at me or rather through me. "Ok…sounds good…I will see you lovebirds later." She closed the door behind her.

"Lovebirds? What the hell?." Vic looked at me and started laughing. "This is why you can never play poker, Walt! Your face gives it all away!"

I felt my face go hot. I was embarrassed but more relieved that I wasn't rolling around the floor with my young deputy when my daughter showed up. I had survived manhunts in the unforgiving Wyoming mountain ranges but I would not have survived that little discovery.

Vic walked over to me and I pulled her in close. Mr. Negative tried voicing his opinion of the situation again, "Shut up." I kissed her as I held her in my arms. When we came up for air Vic looked at me, her eyes were so soft, "You know why I like your face?"

"You hate my beard."

"Well, it scratches…but I have to tell you…I like your face because it doesn't lie to me and I love the way you look at me your eyes don't lie either."

"They never have, Vic and I suspect they never will." We kissed again and stayed in each others arms. I broke the silence, "I want you to stay here with me but honey you have to get back to Absaroka. Someone has to mind the fort."

"I will leave Monday after the bail hearing. Hopefully, there will be four of us making the trip home. The boys can do without me for a couple of days."

I looked down at her again thinking how I couldn't do without my feisty foul mouthed deputy.

"Ok, Monday then." As we kissed again I forgot about all the cares and worries stored inside of me and I drifted on the possibility of being able to love her back in Absaroka County just as I love her in old Arapahoe County.

-End-

_**The story was originally supposed to end here but after numerous requests I have continued the story. I really appreciate all the amazing and positive comments. I hope you enjoy future chapters.** _

_Just a note to thank all of those that have left notes and critiques. It really helps my writing and more importantly I appreciate your time and effort! Enjoy._


	6. Chapter 6

Vic bunked with Cady for the weekend. Vic didn't squawk when I asked her if it would be alright. I wasn't ready to answer to Cady and it was all happening lighting fast. I suppose loving an old man is both a comfort and a burden. I'm faithful and I'm steady but I am slow to move in concerns of the heart.

Vic accompanied us on our daily visits to see Standing Bear. He was shocked to see her on Saturday but delighted just the same. My best friend gave me his tacit approval by not questioning me on her presence.

I am pins and needles this morning as we prepare for Henry's bail hearing. Vic and I drop Cady off at the local attorney's office. She is going to come to the court with them for appearances sake. Vic and I get back in the waiting cab and she folds her fingers into my empty hand. We sit in the backseat and I ask the driver to take us to the Criminal Court building downtown. As we drive down the unfamiliar street, I look out of the passenger window reflecting on the sudden and drastic change occurring in my life. Vic, still holding my hand, rests her head on my shoulder. I know there is a connection here and I can't explain it nor do I really understand it.

"Walt, I don't want you having a friggin' nuclear meltdown on me. I have you alone for the first time in nearly 48 hours and a girl can't even get a smooch. What the hell."

I look over at Vic thinking that this is the last chance I'll have at loving someone and maybe for a short while she will love me back. If I'm lucky her love will last long enough for me to pass to the next life. I take my hand from our intertwined grasp and lift her chin up. Her lips meet mine as we kiss in the back of the taxi cab. I am completely oblivious to the outside world that represents danger and disaster for me. We are writing our history with this city. As I kiss her my mind eases and I want her. I realize that I am falling in love with Victoria Moretti and I am at the point of no return. It's all in or all out. For us there's no in-between.

The cab stops and with it our kiss. I keep looking at Vic as I ask the cabbie if he knows a good breakfast place. "Yeah, the Delectable Egg over on Court. You can walk from here or I can drop you. Doesn't make a difference to me, bud."

"Delectable, hey…I got that right here." Vic nudges me in the ribs laughing. We kiss again as the cabbie chimes in, "Go for it buddy…the meters still ticking and I got allllllllllllllll day." He chuckles but I don't mind. I release Vic for only a moment as I reach into my coat pocket for my wallet and take out my credit card. I hand it to the cabbie. "Here, this outta take care of the fare."

I turn back to Vic and she whispers, "Walt…I "She doesn't stand a chance at finishing that sentence as our lips press and I kiss her as if my life depended on it because I think it does.


End file.
